Mono Lake

The overcast skies prevented a spectacular sun rise over the lake. But what got me awake was the serenity. The entire lake was quiet until after the sun came up and the gulls went on a feeding frenzy by 7:30am. This lake is three times saltier than the Pacific ocean; other than brine shrimp there's not much to eat bu apparently there are enough brine shrimp to feed quite a few birds. Up to 90% of all of California's gulls are hatched here and fly westward to the ocean.

It looked like rain but none ever came. By 11am the people started coming, ruining my tranquility but by then I had done plenty of walking and photographing and needed a break. From the western to the southern shore, I went everywhere, to the South Tufa pinacles to the Panum crater and in the late afternoon, back to Mammoth Lakes for a dinner at Roberto's. I even got ahold of Kevin, who returned Thursday so that means the dogs were only alone for 24 hours. The monsoon started that day, too and it's been raining ever since.


(More later)